Tools for Innovation: Lateral Benchmarking

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Tools for InnovationLateral Benchmarking

• Jonathan Weaver
• UDM Mechanical Engineering Department
• weaverjm_at_udmercy.edu

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References

• Lateral benchmarking or ... what Formula One
  taught an airline. Murdoch, Adrian , Management
  Today, 11/01/1997
• www.wikipedeia.com
• Lateral Thinking Creativity Step by Step, Edward
  de Bono, ISBN 0-06-090325-2.

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"I am looking for a lot of men who have an
infinite capacity not to know what can't be
done."

• Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American inventor
  and industrialist who founded the Ford Motor
  Company. He was the father of modern assembly
  lines and mass production. Ford's introduction
  of the Model T revolutionized transportation.
  During his lifetime, Ford was awarded 161 U.S.
  patents.
• Editor's Note An infinite capacity not to know
  what can't be done. Imagine putting that in an
  employment ad today! And yet, it is that
  innocence, passion and vision that made Henry
  Ford one of the greatest inventors and business
  innovators of the past century. Cont. next
  slide

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• Imagine our surprise on an inventive excursion
  this weekend to discover that weavers in the
  1800s used a device, looking suspiciously like a
  computer punch card on looms to weave a variety
  of colors into patterns. The binary system used
  on these old-fashioned looms is basically the
  same one employed in computer science!
• Henry Ford had an uncanny ability to envision how
  parts and systems used in one profession or
  field, could be used in another with only minor
  adaptation. He unabashedly borrowed from the
  meat packing industry as well as the inventions
  of Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and a host of
  others.
• Don't overlook simple processes and tools from
  the past and those from other fields when you set
  out to create something new. Every new idea has
  a springboard, and some of the best ones come not
  from the complicated inventions of the 21st
  Century, but the simple ones of the past where
  the function is clear.
• Sue McPhail, APR, President, Ideaology
  Innovation Quote DuJour 20090915

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Southwest Airlines Refueling

• Dallas-based Southwest Airlines used to have a
  problem. Most of its aircraft were on the ground
  between flights for an average of 40 - expensive
  - minutes. Although it had benchmarked its
  refueling processes against other airlines, it
  found it was already one of the leaders. Some
  sort of quantum leap for improvement was needed,
  so it looked outside the airline industry for the
  most efficient refuelers in the world - Formula
  One racing. Adopting the turnaround processes
  used during pit stops, Southwest Airlines can now
  refuel an aeroplane in 12 minutes.
• Lateral benchmarking or ... what Formula One
  taught an
• airline. Murdoch, Adrian , Management Today,
  11/01/1997

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What is Lateral Benchmarking?

• Benchmarking is a process in which organizations
  evaluate various aspects of their processes in
  relation to best practice, usually within their
  own sector
• Lateral benchmarking involves looking outside
  your industry for inspiration and ideas which can
  be adapted to your products and services
• Lateral benchmarking provides a low-risk way to
  innovate while still providing features
  considered innovative by the customer since the
  competing products lack them

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What is Lateral Benchmarking? (Cont.)

• Vertical vs lateral thinking
• In more typical vertical thinking, one explores
  the design space until any potentially promising
  solution emerges, then proceeds to vertically and
  refine that concept as much as necessary as to
  beat it into acceptance
• In lateral thinking, one first explores the
  design space laterally as far as possible,
  putting as many conceivable solutions on the
  table as possible, before further exploring
  (vertically) the more promising of those
  solutions
• Lateral benchmarking can be thought of as a tool
  to focus your lateral thinking

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Some Examples

• Bicycle disc brakes borrowed from auto industry
• Studying showers to improve clothes washing
  machine (eliminating agitator and sprinkling from
  the top) (Calypso)
• Auto interior designers studying office chairs,
  child seats, beds, etc.
• Heated cupholders in 2007 Chrysler Sebring
• IDEO studying pit crews to improve emergency room
  design

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Note to Other Users

• Obviously there isnt much meat here yet if
  anyone has some ideas of what to add (in
  particular, examples), please pass them along!